Finding Ford

Ya wiggle worm

                           Ettie

"Can I ride with you?" I hear someone ask. I look up, not sure if they're talking to me or not. "Can I?" the girl asks again, looking straight at me.

She's tall and lanky with strawberry blonde frizzy hair that curls past her shoulders. Behind the thick black framed glasses on her face are big hazel eyes that make her look cute and friendly.

"Yeah, sure." I answer, while scooting my butt over to the other side of this questionable rust bucket.

"I'm Harper." The girl introduces herself as the Ferris wheel takes off at a speed of about two miles per hour. The guy is still letting people on and I watch as a couple gets on behind us and they start kissing.

I turn around quickly not wanting to look like a creep. I smile at Harper as I introduce myself, "I'm Ettie."

"That's a pretty name," She compliments, and the ride slowly takes off again. "Is that short for something?" She asks while she raises an eyebrow at the flaking paint and flicks some off of her shorts.

"Juliette." I tell her, "but you can call me Ettie." Most people do, except my momma. My dad calls me JJ for short but he's the only one that ever calls me that. 

"Okay, Ettie it is." She nods in approval. "I just moved here a week ago, so I don't know anybody from around here. My momma heard about this fair and sent me down here to make friends." Harper tells me with a big grin on her face.

I laugh at that, sounds like something my aunt would do. "Oh yeah, how's that going for you?" I ask, genuinely wondering. Because it takes a brave person just to walk up to someone and be like, "hey, want to be friends."

Or ask a stranger if they can ride with you on a Ferris wheel.

"Good, so far I've made two. Beatrice down there at the ring-a-duck game and you. Although, I think Beatrice was just hitting me up for my cash." We both laugh at that, there's absolutely no way she's wrong about that.

"Well, you can at least tell your momma you made one friend tonight." I smile at her and she smiles back. I look out at the fair and all the people on the ground, now that we've made it to the top.

"Thanks." I hear her say quietly.

I look up at the night sky, the moon is almost full, giving off its own light, one way more beautiful than all the different colored fluorescent bulbs down here. There's a million stars up there and I'd make a wish on all of them if I knew it could come true.

I wish I could spend nights like this with my parents. Share a moment in my life with them that's actually good. Seems like those times ended three years ago.

Momma buried herself in work and daddy, well, he's drowning himself in the bottle.

"Hey, Ettie" I hear Dillion yell. I look around but I don't see him.

"Who's that?" Harper asks. She points at a few seats behind us. I look where she's pointing at Dillion and Ford. "He's a looker," she sighs dreamily.

I wave at them. "How'd y'all get on here?" The line was long and I thought I snuck away from them.

"You ain't sneaky." He hollers back.

Ignoring him, I look back at Harper and I ask "which one?"

"I ain't picky." She answers honestly. I throw my head back and laugh. I have a feeling we're going to get along just fine.

"Well, the one hollering is my cousin, Dillion, and the one with him is Ford. I literally just met him. He's new around here too." I inform her.

"Girl, he's fine. You should talk to him." She whispers, as she nods in Ford's direction.